Rarotonga experienced an unexpected power outage at 3.30 am yesterday morning (Wednesday 1
November). The cause of the outage was a mechanical fault at TAU’s power station in Avatiu, and its team
was able to restore power by 4 am.

This outage comes after cable faults on 10 and 13 October affected parts of the network. An unplanned
outage on 14 October at TAU’s power station remains under investigation by TAU’s team.

Speaking to these incidents, CEO Lesley Katoa has responded to concerns as to network reliability.
“I appreciate we have experienced a number of unplanned, brief electricity outages over recent weeks.
Mechanical faults do occur from time to time – one reason TAU is transitioning to renewable energy.
Infrastructure faults such as cable faults, on the other hand, reflect the ongoing challenges of a harsh,
tropical marine environment.

Our team works tirelessly to identify and repair the cause of faults, to deliver electricity back to our
customers as quickly as possible,”

“We understand the impact such outages have on our people and the business community. I want to
reassure our customers that our small, dedicated team is working hard to deliver reliable electricity.
TAU is confident that our increasing move to renewable energy, and associated upgrading of

infrastructure is progressively increasing reliable supply of electricity. The recent spate of incidents is,
though, a reminder of the challenging environment in which we operate. We apologise for any
inconvenience to our valued customers.”

End.